KBS C-Taper Tour Iron Shaft Profile

Profile – KBS has recently launched their Tour C-Taper iron shafts built by renowned shaft designed Kim Braly. Although it’s not very often we see iron shafts truly making a buzz in the golf world (last shafts likely being the Project X’s) these beauties from KBS are certainly turning heads. The shafts were designed specifically …

C-Taper KBS golf shaft reviewProfile – KBS has recently launched their Tour C-Taper iron shafts built by renowned shaft designed Kim Braly. Although it’s not very often we see iron shafts truly making a buzz in the golf world (last shafts likely being the Project X’s) these beauties from KBS are certainly turning heads. The shafts were designed specifically based on Tour feedback – hence they are geared towards lower handicapped players and professionals. These shafts borrowed the technology from the KBS Tour lines, but were built to specifically fit the needs of better players and faster swing speeds. KBS, through independent robot tests, are attributing these shafts to produce a 5% lower trajectory, 5% less spin and a 5% increase in more distance. More often than not, we take these claims with a grain of salt, or chalk it up to marketing nonsense, but from the buzz around the golfing world, these shafts are living up to their claims. These shafts were in K.J. Choi’s bag when he won this years Player’s Championship. There have not yet seen any details regarding major OEM’s adding these shafts as options to their club lines.

Update: Nike has recently announced the KBS Tour C-Taper will be available as a stock shaft.

What Makes It Work – Where to start… The KBS website attributes five distinct technological features in these shafts. Each KBS shaft incorporates a stiff tip that combines with the MOI Taper Design to produce maximum torsion and flex resulting in lower spin and the piercing ball flight better players are after. What’s MOI Taper Design you ask? Well, these new shafts feature invisible steps hidden under a seamless taper coupled with a thin wall thickness – which KBS says transfers MOI exceptionally well into the balll. KBS also went a step further and they modified their design to increase the outer diameter of the shaft nearer the tip (resulting in the stiff tip) and also by shallowing the taper rate. These steps help with energy transfer and ultimately lead to great feel, with increased distance, low trajectory and reduced spin. Each set of KBS C-Taper iron shafts has “Integrated CPM-Matching” and weight sorting, which basically means they ensure consistency in playability and feel by matching cycle-per-minute rates on the shafts to swing weights.

Who’s It For – These shafts are geared towards better players and professionals. Their regular shaft irons are for people whose swing speeds with a driver are at or above 90 MPH. These shafts will produce a lower ball flight, so if you already suffer from a low ball flight, these may not be for you. If you hit a high ball flight, high spin and have a faster swing speed, you may find some saving grace with the KBS C-Taper shafts.

KBS Firm Tip Technology C-Taper

What People Say – Well, just a week after K.J. Choi put the shafts in to his bag, he won the Player’s Championship – so that’s some solid feedback. Pat Perez and Stricker are also gaming these shafts. The look of these seamless shafts has been described as sleek, slick, and “pimped”. The satin design and dulled finish really make the shaft pop, and it screams of quality. These shafts have one of the most unique “feels” for iron shafts to date. It is so smooth during transition and into impact, that it takes some getting used to – many players compared these shafts to the Project X’s, but found the KBS lacked the “pop” feeling when the shaft kicked, and interesting and wow-factor for many. This new feeling was best described as “quiet”, which matches the muted sound these shafts produce at impact. Regardless of swing speed, or whether the shaft was “jumped-on” the smooth, refined feel of the shafts remained, and performed admirably. Ball flight was noticeably lower for longer irons, but not so much for shorter clubs. In terms of workability, these shafts were very responsive, and players felt fully in control. Distance lives up to the claims, with “consistent” and “reliable” being the words of choice to describe this attribute. The tip of these shafts are noticeably stiffer. Very accurate, with tight dispersion.

Finally, some players say the 5%/5%/5% is complete crap, it’s more like 10% or more across the board. Haha.

 

KBS C-Taper Tour Iron Shaft Specs

Regular Flex

Weight: 110g

Torque: 2.05

Ball Flight: Low

Ball Spin: Low

 

Regular + Flex

Weight: 115g

Torque: 2.0

Ball Flight: Low

Ball Spin: Low

 

Stiff Flex

Weight: 120g

Torque: 1.95

Ball Flight: Low

Ball Spin: Low

 

Stiff + Flex

Weight: 125g

Torque: 1.9

Ball Flight: Low

Ball Spin: Low

 

X-Stiff Flex

Weight: 130g

Torque: 1.85

Ball Flight: Low

Ball Spin: Low

 

Price

$35 per shaft

 

Read More

http://www.kbsshafts.com/kbs_c-taper.php

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